


Neverland

by moonrise31



Series: once, twice, and again until it's over [1]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, I'm like TT, Nayeon's just here as the token grouchy but endearing friend to be quite honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 21:19:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12590752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonrise31/pseuds/moonrise31
Summary: In which Momo and Mina both learn a little bit more about what it really means to grow up.





	Neverland

The used bookstore Momo works in has a large CD collection. It's apparently a part of Nayeon's vendetta against "the new millennium" and people downloading music as bytes on a phone instead of purchasing the physical copy.

("Where's the character?" Nayeon will say at least once a week, throwing her hands up in the air as Momo leans her elbows on the checkout counter and pretends to listen. "When you play a CD, it gets scratches and dents, parts where it always skips for a few seconds because you dropped it that one time in a parking lot while getting out of your car. But you can't wear out  _data_. How can you appreciate something you can't even hold?"

There are several extra paragraphs to this particular monologue, but Momo usually tunes her boss out after the first few sentences.)

For someone who is so outrageously against the latest technology, Nayeon is adept enough to somehow hook up an old portable radio to the store's speaker system. The antenna is broken and the reception through the store's old brick walls is bad to begin with, so the only frequency they receive with reasonable clarity is the news channel.

Nayeon plays it anyway, saying that it's ironic.

Momo, for her part, has always been confused by the concept of irony. The closest she can come to understanding it is that Nayeon welcomes Mina into the store every day about a half hour before closing, letting the younger girl take a seat behind the checkout counter and watch Momo work until Nayeon locks the door. Nayeon even asks Mina to help them tidy up, because she thinks Mina is quiet and the perfect-little-sister type who sits inside and reads all day and knows how to appreciate a good physical CD.

It's ironic because Mina is very much a part of "the new millennium". Momo's seen it, and still bears witness to it every night after she and Mina walk back to Mina's apartment. Within the hour, they're pressed close and comfortable on Mina's couch, Momo's head tucked snugly against Mina's shoulder as she watches the younger girl download the new song of the day.

Mina doesn't even pay for it, but Momo can't find it in herself to scold the other. She eases her own conscience by noting the artists Mina downloads from and buying one of those CDs from the store at the end of the week, subtracting the price from her upcoming paycheck. It doesn't really work this way, she knows, but Mina thinks it's cute, and, well.

In the grand scheme of things, Momo decides, it isn't the worst crime.

 

-

 

Momo keeps time during the day by the type of news that comes on the radio. The weather always bustles in at eight in the morning, sharp.

_"...high is thirty-six degrees Celsius today. Make sure to stay hydrated, and definitely put on that sunscreen."_

By ten, the stories have shifted to politics.

_"Last night, the president spoke to the press at the Blue House concerning the latest debate regarding..."_

Noon is lunchtime, and the headliners start to saturate the airwaves.

_"...jewelry store has been robbed. Stolen assets amount to over one million won..."_

_"Tensions at the border continue in light of nuclear missile reports, although officials state that there is no cause for panic..."_

And by the time Mina comes in, Momo's heard about all she's able to bear for the evening about the stock market and other financial analyses, so she's grateful for the distraction.

Today, she frowns when she notices the bandage on Mina's arm. "What happened?"

"Just a scratch," Mina says lightly as she takes her usual seat behind the counter. "Don't worry about it, unnie. I don't even feel it."

"Okay," says Momo. She turns back to the register and counts the bills for maybe the fiftieth time that day, grumbling when the radio starts throwing out numbers that aren't the ones she's counting. "Just be careful next time."

"Of course," Mina tells her. "You're my good luck, unnie."

"Aw, that's cute," says Nayeon, suddenly appearing from the depths of the romance aisle.

Momo jerks, the stack of bills flying out of her hand and fluttering all over the counter top and floor. She lets out a long whine. "Unnie, stop sneaking up on me like that."

Nayeon shakes her head. "I bet horror movies are a real treat for you."

Mina's already crouched by Momo's knees, gathering up the money as she laughs. She straightens and wordlessly hands the stack back to Momo.

Momo, meanwhile, glares at her boss before turning to smile, planting a swift kiss on Mina's nose.

 

-

 

Momo likes to wake up early in the morning, which is why she's already in the kitchen with breakfast on the stove by the time Mina shuffles in.

Mina's more than pretty by any standard, but Momo thinks she looks the best right after she wakes up, with hair tousled by pillows and the wrinkles from Momo's sleeve still pressed into her cheek. Her eyes are curved slits as she yawns, slumping into a chair and holding out her arms. Momo obliges, coming over to set a plate of eggs down on the table before letting herself be pulled into Mina's hug.

The younger girl rests her head against Momo's stomach.

"Morning," Momo hums softly.

"Morning," Mina murmurs. And smiles sleepily as Momo gently pats her head, smoothing the most wayward strands of hair. "Thank you for the luck today, unnie."

"You don't need it," says Momo. But gives her a couple extra pats anyway, just in case.

 

-

 

_"...autumn is finally here, so make sure to grab that jacket before it drops to thirteen degrees by three in the afternoon..."_

Momo jerks when a newsflash cuts into the broadcast.

_"This just in. A vault in Shinhan Bank was broken into by a team of at least three people. Guards at the scene engaged with one, but all managed to escape and are still at large. No money was taken. If you have any information that may be helpful, please contact..."_

Momo glances out the window, on the off-chance that she might be witness to a thrilling police chase. But the street stays quiet.

Later that evening, while she's trying to tune out discussion about whether Samsung has established a true monopoly in South Korea, Mina enters the bookstore. Momo's eyes widen. "What happened to your face?"

Mina reaches up and gingerly adjusts the patch over her left eye. "I just ran into something."

Momo frowns as the younger girl steps closer. She reaches up and carefully lifts up the edge of the eyepatch, wincing as she notices the dark mottled ring already emerging against Mina's pale, pale skin. "That looks like it hurts."

"It doesn't," whispers Mina hoarsely. Then she clears her throat, steadies her voice. "It doesn't." 

"Woah, what'd you do, Minari?" Nayeon drops a stack of un-shelved thriller mysteries onto the counter. "Get in a fight?"

Mina laughs along with the joke, but Momo doesn't think it's very funny.

 

-

 

"Looks like my luck ran out," Momo says as they walk, joined hands swinging in between them. 

Mina shakes her head. "It didn't. You're like...a good luck fairy." She turns to smile, her uninjured eye closest to Momo. "Fairies don't ever run out of stuff like that, right, unnie?"

"This one did," says Momo, kicking at a stray pebble. She frowns when it bounces off of a nearby lamppost and skips back under her shoe.

"Unnie," Mina squeezes her hand, "I'll be okay."

"I want you to be more than okay," Momo tells her, looking up. "I don't like it when you're hurting."

Mina stares back at her, and even with only one good eye, she still manages to look like what the stars are made of: shining and shadowed in the exact same places, and maybe too good to be true.

"Just," Momo clears her throat, glancing away. "Be more careful, please?"

"Okay, unnie," says Mina softly, and Momo almost misses the choke in her voice. "I'll be careful."

 

-

 

Momo has one foot in a shoe when Mina sits down next to her. She looks at the younger girl. "You're leaving for work early today?"

"Sort of," says Mina, eyes crinkling at the corners. There's still a faint ring of bruising around one, but it's hard to notice when she smiles. "My shift moved earlier."

"Oh, I see." Momo finishes lacing up her sneakers and stands up, waiting for Mina to do the same. "Want to walk to the bus station together?"

"Of course," Mina says, promptly lacing her fingers between Momo's. "I'm going to the same stop as you are, actually."

"You are?" Momo blinks. "I thought you worked a lot farther away."

"My workplace moved," says Mina.

"Oh," says Momo again.

It's not until Mina follows her all the way inside the bookstore that she realizes.

"I just want to say that I'm in full support of employee-employee relationships," Nayeon tells them. "Just don't make out in the manga corner." And then whisks away to rescue an early customer wandering around the self-help section.

"You work here now?" Momo asks, finally.

Mina grins. "Surprise?"

Technically, Nayeon hadn't told them not to make out behind the checkout counter, but Momo plays it safe and gives Mina a quick peck on the forehead instead.

 

-

 

Later that day, the noon headlines come on the radio.

_...the suspects responsible for armed robbery and assault on the corner of Fifth and Twelfth last Thursday have been apprehended..."_

Mina snorts softly, and Momo thinks she catches the other girl muttering, "amateurs," under her breath.

But the bruise around Mina's eye disappears completely, and the scratch on her arm doesn't even leave a scar. And when she asks Momo what CD she should buy using a portion of her first paycheck from the bookstore, Momo thinks that maybe it's perfectly okay that the luck she needed to give Mina has finally run out.


End file.
